BIOGRAPHY OF ELIZABETH (BAREFOOT) Hammer
The Barefoots were a pioneer clan from Bedford County. Elizabeth Barefoot is the daughter of Bedford County pioneer James Barefoot and his wife Mary "Polly" Slick or Sleek Barefoot. Elizabeth is the second of 12 children, and she was born 18 February 1813 in St. Clairsville, Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
On 11 September 1834, Elizabeth Barefoot married Solomon Nunemaker Hammer in Jennerstown, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. They had 10 children, 4 girls and 6 boys: Mary, Charlotte, Joseph Sleek (my great-grandfather), Henrietta, John Colby, David Marks, George B., Winfield Scott, Ross Forward, and Martha D. Hammer - all born between 1836 and 1856 in Jennerstown, Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States. Four of her children died young: Henrietta, George, Winfield, and Martha Hammer.
Solomon and Elizabeth had 41 grandchildren. One of their grandchildren, Cordia or Cora Augusta Hammer, was the child of Joseph Sleek Hammer and a serving girl Sabina Schultz. The Hammers arranged with Sabina to leave the child in their care, so the older couple is often attributed to being the parents of Cordia, but they are the grandparents who reared her.
Elizabeth's husband Solomon died in 1890. The widowed Elizabeth died nine years later on 17 September 1889 in Jenner Township, Somerset, Pennsylvania, at the age of 76.
This story is in descendant Ella Hammer Krise's (Elizabeth's granddaughter's) handwriting:
"Grandmother Hammer and Grand F. had their own riding horse. G.M.'s had a round full body, and short legs. Its name was Gin. G.M. had a very wide riding skirt and a side saddle. She raised flax and wove linen. She also spun wool, made yarn, colored it black, blue, red, and brown, knit stockings, wove cloth, flannel, and carpets. This would have been Elizabeth Barefoot Hammer. G.M. was a beautiful woman, always smiling.
Grandfather's horse was a beautiful horse, black as coal, long legs, and ran off whenever he felt like it. No one could ride him except Gr. F. One day they hitched him up with Gin, to haul in some hay. He decided to run off. He ran up against a tree, and that was the last of him. G.F. was a large man. G.M. could stand under his arm".
Elizabeth's mother was the local midwife who delivered children. Doubtless Elizabeth learned a lot of practical skills from her mother. My own grandmother lists quite a few skills Elizabeth had with spinning, knitting, and making cloth. She also mentions that she rode horseback. With so many children, she more than likely spent a great deal of time caring for her children and managing the smaller tasks on the farm. She had grown up in a family of 12 children, so she more than likely had learned to work hard to take care of her own family. Her son, Joseph Sleek Hammer, is my great-grandfather who married Lizzie Ann Barnhart and moved with her to Johnstown, PA, where my family originated. Elizabeth was affilliated with the Jennerstown Baptist Church in Somerset, PA, and was buried in their cemetery.
By Sylvia Hott Sonneborn